Newtype
A Newtype is a common fixture of the Gundam metaseries, appearing the most out of every other genetic type featured in the franchise. A Newtype is usually classified as a human who has reached a higher evolutionary stage, where they gain various special abilities. The idea is that, in space, humanity will evolve to have enhanced mental awareness, mostly through the form of being able to understand one another perfectly without conflict or misinterpretation. While mostly featured in the Universal Century timeline, Newtypes have appeared across multiple media, such as that of After War and the Cosmic Era. Description & Characteristics Newtypes are defined by an assortment of mental abilities, which include long range telepathy, danger precognition, and heightened spacial awareness. Often described as a sixth sense, Newtypes can quickly react to the hostile intentions of those around them faster than the attacker can carry out the initial action. Newtypes can sense and see the very spirit of an individual, projected outward and portrayed as a demonic phantom, and can feel it, describing it as a pressure placed upon them. With technology, a Newtype's powers can be enhanced via control systems, such as brainwave controls which allow remote mental access and control to weapons and technologies such as Psycoframe which project outward the raw power of Newtypes. As an example, , a mobile suit equipped with Psycoframe in its cockpit unit, was able to effortlessly push half of the asteroid Axis out of Earth's atmosphere via the sheer will of its Newtype pilot. Other technological devices, such as the Biocomputer, have been observed to achieve similar feats. Despite Newtypes getting their name from the concept of new age humans living in space, the exact circumstances which dictate a person as being a Newtype are vague and inconsistent, with people demonstrating these exact powers across the entirety of the Earth sphere, from Earth to the far off colonies. The developer of these abilities doesn't even need to be human, as observed with a group of monkeys in the UC timeline and, on a more individualistically case, the in the AW timeline. The full capabilities of Newtypes are unknowable, as they exist in an almost abstract/mystical area that cannot be easily narrowed down by even the science of the Universal Century or other universes and timelines. Versions of Newtypes *'Newtype (NDPs)' *'Newtype (Conflicted Hearts)' *'Regulator' Similar Genetic Types There are various genetic types featured throughout the Gundam metaseries that resemble Newtypes in concept, yet are referred to by another name, serve another purpose, or come about via a different process. *'Coordinators' :*Seen prominently in the Cosmic Era, Coordinators are genetically modified humans who have been given similar mental abilities to Newtypes, but are not quite at the same level. They are more like Cyber Newtypes in how they gain their abilities via deliberate modification rather than naturally. Coordinators are able to access the SEED factor, which gives them enhanced reflexes matching that of their Newtype counterparts, though only for a limited time. *'Innovators' :*Innovators, as featured throughout the Anno Domini timeline, hold the same position as Newtypes as the next step in human evolution. They both have the same abilities and characteristics, though Innovators are explained to obtain these powers via high concentrations of GN Particle exposure and utilize Quantum Brainwaves for most of their mental powers. There are also Innovades, artificial bioterminals which exhibit similar if less powerful abilities to Innovators, which resemble that of Cyber Newtypes. *'X-Rounders' :*The Advanced Generation has people known X-Rounders who display the same abilities as Newtypes, via their use of the X-region of the Human brain which goes unused by the average human being. Instead of being an evolution, it is theorized that X-Rounders are actually a de-evolution of mankind, as the X-region was only used in the past to decide the outcome of fights for survival of the fittest and are the equivalent of animal reflexes. *'Mutants' :*Most Mutants in the Forgotten Era, or otherwise named Next Generation, don't generally follow the same chain of powers exhibited by Newtypes, except for Type Xs, who have around the same mental abilities as Newtype. Though they are without telepathy, they still exercise almost impossible spacial awareness and danger precognition. *'FATEs' :*FATEs of the Diamond Era exhibit the same abilities as Newtypes, just simply presented in a different manner. humans are able to activate a FATE Factor which permanently changes them into a FATE. *'Transcendants' :*The Solar Era's Transcendant, or more specifically referred to as Natural Transcendants, operate in a similar manner to that of Newtypes, except the specifics of their abilities and where they come from have been heavily researched and defined over the course of their existence. They hold higher level intelligence and their precognitive abilities expand far beyond that of a danger sense. Cyber Newtype-like subset of Transcendants, known as Cyber Transcendant, exist that require constantly active nanites to use and retain their abilities. *'Spacers' :*Ostensibly the Stardust Century equivalent to Newtypes, Spacers match the abilities of their UC counterpart 1-to-1, with a small advantage in sheer power and potential. Spacers share the same kind of origin in name as Newtypes, from myth spread across the colonies of their supposed next evolutionary step. *'Resonants' :*In the Ascension Era timeline, Resonants have extreme mental capabilities which expand far from the reaches of vanilla Newtypes. A Resonant can pair with a mobile suit to initiate Resonation, allowing them full control over it with just mental commands alone. History Universal Century Newtypes in the Universal Century get their name from Zeon Zum Deikun, who philosophized about Contolism, the belief that Earth is a sacred body and that it is humanity's destiny to leave it behind and evolve in outer space. His doctrine spread so far and wide across all known corners of the Earth sphere that Newtype became the term used to describe those with exceptional abilities and skills that seemed beyond human capability. Identifiable Newtypes began to come into being during the One Year War, in which many organizations began conducting various studies and research on the phenomena surrounding Newtypes. Across the years of the UC calendar, humanity had churned out various Newtype-related technologies and mechanics in an attempt to use these enhanced humans as weapons. The most abundant example of all is that of the Cyber Newtype, regular humans who have been converted into Newtype-lite individuals who exhibit the same abilities as their natural counterparts except on a small scale. Most of the known Newtype individuals seen in the UC timeline have had some form of cyberisation performed on them, with very few exhibiting those abilities naturally. The term Oldtype came into being around the same time, to highlight the seeming outdated nature of the average human when compared to Newtypes. After War In the After War timeline, Newtypes are featured prominently. Despite not having a single known philosophy associated with them or a source for the term Newtype, they still became well known enough to be feared by the world government of the pre-war era. Many identified Newtypes were taken and experimented upon in an attempt to scientifically figure out where they get their mental abilities from. The most horrifying of these experiments is that of the fate of D.O.M.E., a Newtype that had been split down to his very component parts and was only kept alive as a brain acting as part of an operating CPU based on the Moon which handled the control system for the destructive Satellite Cannon weapon. Other applications of Newtypes were as commanders of Mobile Bit units, which were controlled by the Newtype commander via direct telepathic command. A ranking system was established to classify the raw power of Newtypes on an individual level, though the ranking was purely biased towards military application, failing to take into account the other assortment of abilities a Newtype possessed or other applications they could be applied to. At large, identified Newtypes are treated more like a commodity to be used and thrown away rather than as actual people, even after the 7th Space War and deep into the After War era, and they are left with very little help from either within or without. Cosmic Era While not named as such, Newtypes as they've appeared across other entries in the Gundam metaseries appear in the Cosmic Era timeline. Due to the focus on Coordinators, Newtypes are rarely mentioned, with appearances being isolated incidents. Alliance pilot is observed to have the abilities of Newtypes, being able to outmaneuver and win with weaponry and equipment much less advanced than that of his opponents. Kira Yamato later develops Newtype abilities as well, on top of his already enhanced Coordinator abilities, making him a hybrid of sorts. It is stated by the GG Unit (a unit containing the memories of the first Coordinator ) that, rather than Coordinators being the next evolutionary step of mankind, Coordinators were supposed to "coordinate" the actual next step in human advancement. There is speculation that this next step is actually in reference to Newtypes, though there is no confirmation on the matter. Known Newtypes (Gundam Fanon) Trivia